‘SNL’ CAST RUMORS HINT AT ANOTHER IMPENDING END OF AN ERA

Periodic turnover of players seems to be
in the DNA of this 37-year-old sketch show

This season, if anyone is being groomed for a larger role, it’s Taran Killam. As a featured player, he’s become a regularly highlighted performer, including impressions of Brad Pitt, Michael Cera and Bravo’s Andy Cohen. More than the other of the younger cast members, he’s frequently gotten sketches into the show.

Still, it’s been an uneven season for such a strong cast. The show has sometimes been overly reliant on predictable cable news frames for political sketches and leaned too heavily on recurring character sketches with so little variety as to seem like reruns.

But when “SNL” is firing on all cylinders, it can be as good as it’s ever been. This year, those moments have typically come when an alum has hosted: Maya Rudolph in February; Jimmy Fallon for the Christmas show.

Such occasions usually bring back other former cast members, as well. If anything, the “SNL” universe has grown larger, spread out across TV shows and myriad movies — making a kind of constant revolving door for “SNL” cast members, past and present.

In that way, “Saturday Night Live” has more in common with the mafia than any other TV show: No one ever really leaves.